The Best Mistake
by thatfangirlomg
Summary: Four years ago, Jess Mariano got Rory Gilmore pregnant. Now, she's graduated from Yale and living back in Stars Hollow, where she gets an unexpected surprise *Set after Season 7* *DISCLAIMER I DONT OWN ANYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH GILMORE GIRLS*
1. A New Beginning

Just before Rory Gilmore left to become a freshman at Yale, she learned she was pregnant. With her ex-boyfriend, Jess Mariano's baby. She had found out a day before he left for California and was going to tell him, but she never heard from him again and had no way to contact him. Being a pregnant teenager, Rory was ashamed, as most girls in that situation would be. It was everything that her mother, Lorelai didn't want for her. After a few days though, she loved the idea of having a grandchild. On the other hand, Emily and Richard weren't as happy for Rory, it was like Lorelai all over again, but they never stopped paying for Rory's tuition because they wanted her to make something of herself. As a result of her embarrassment,Rory lived in a small one-bedroom apartment just outside of Yale because she didn't want to share a room with anyone, because of the situation. Rory's best friend, Lane was skipping a year before she went to college, so she helped Rory out with babysitting after the baby arrived when Rory had classes.

Valentina Mariano was Rory's life. She decided to take Jess' last name for her little girl, because after all it was his daughter too. She had Rory's bright blue eyes but Jess' jet black hair. She was a great baby, and the only thing that stopped her from crying at night was listening Rory's Bangles CD's. Even though she was not planned, Rory never thought of Valentina as a mistake. She was Rory's motivation to keep going ay Yale, until she graduated with a major in Journalism and a minor in English Composition.

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Valentina was almost four when Rory graduated from Yale. Lorelai, her boyfriend Luke and Valentina attended Rory's graduation. It was a large ceremony at an arena in New Haven, only the best treatment for Yale Graduates.

After the ceremony, Rory eventually found her mom, Luke and Valentina waiting outside. Luke was carrying a sleeping Valentina. "We tried to get her to stay up until they announced your name, but it didn't work" Lorelai said, a little upset.

"It's okay, it will make for a good story later on" Rory chuckled, taking her daughter from Luke, who she knew hated children, but he was a grandfather figure to Valentina. She had grown to get more of Jess' attributes, from writing in the margins of her favorite books, only with pencil though, and always carrying a book around in the back pocket of her jeans that she always wore. At times it pained Rory that she was so much like Jess and he would be gone forever.

"We should probably get going if we're going to get to the party in time" Lorelai said, leading the rest of the clan to her Jeep. She was throwing one of her legendary parties for her daughters' graduation.

In less than a half an hour, they were back at Lorelai's house. Well, now it was Lorelai and Luke's house. The couple lived together but for right now had no plains to get married, they just wanted to enjoy each other. Valentina had woken up on the car ride back home, repeatedly saying "party" because she knew that they're was going to be cake. When they arrived at the house, Babette was standing outside. "Morrie! They're here!" she screamed loud enough for Morrie to hear her inside.

"Oh doll how are ya?" she asked. "My goodness, is this the baby? Morrie, come see the baby. Oh hun, we don't see enough of this beauty around here" Rory chuckled. "Well the baby isn't really the baby anymore. She'll be four in a few weeks. Valentina, can you say hi to Babette?"

Valentina smiled. "Hi Babette.." she said softly and then hid on Rory's shoulder. "She'll be okay" Rory reassured Babette and followed her inside the house, where there were people everywhere. Sookie had made the food, of course and Lorelai had planned it, they were slowing bringing back their time spent as party planners as a side job.

Valentina was a bigger hit at the party than Rory, but that was okay for Rory, she didn't need nor want the attention. Of course they had a cake with Rory's face on it, that Valentina thought was the most amazing thing in the world and they played several homemade games such as "Pin the Graduation Cap on Rory", like pin the tail on the donkey. That was Lorelai's idea but that goes without saying. The music was great, all of Rory's favorites from The Bangles to David Bowie to Metallica and a lot of dancing from Valentina.

Eventually, the party was over. Rory was going to stay with her mom and Luke for the summer, and then move to Washington D.C. to cover a presidential candidates' journey to the White House. Valentina was still up, due to the sugar rush from eating her mom's face out of icing. Rory decided to take her on a stroller ride down by the town square to see if she would fall asleep.

She walked around two sides of the square because she sees a familiar silhouette in the distance. ' _It can't be'_ she thought to herself, but sure enough it was Jess Mariano, Valentina's father, the irresponsible teenage boy that broke Rory's heart and left her to be a single teenage mother. He was sitting on a bench, reading his favorite, _Oliver Twist._

 _"_ Hasn't anyone ever told you it's no good for your eyesight to read in the dark Mariano?" Rory asked sarcastically as the neared the boy she was once in love with, the boy she still loved.

"What's with the kid Gilmore?" Jess looked up from his book, to stare at the three year old, sleeping peacefully in her stroller.

"I asked first" Rory sighed. "And if you must know, she's my daughter. She's three, her name is Valentina Lorelai."

"God what's with all the Lorelai's?" He said, clearly annoyed that his ex-girlfriend interrupted his reading.

"Well maybe if you were around you could've helped with the name. But you weren't. You left and I was never able to contact you. I've raised her perfectly for almost four years. Not a broken bone or stitches or a concussion. She's an amazing little girl. She writes in the margins of books just like her dad.." Rory pointed to the clearly marked up pages of Jess' book.

"Sorry, I didn't know.." Jess said, trying to take this all in that he had a child.

"I'm not asking for you to be involved in my life, her life, our life, but you should at least know about her. What are you even doing back here anyway?" Rory asked.

"Here for business, I had a meeting at Harvard about a new manuscript and I figured I would come back to this place. I hate it so much, but it's nice to just sit and read at night like this. I might stop by Luke's in the morning, but that's a might. You should um..get home, Valentina is asleep and there's a chill in the air tonight, I'm sure you don't want her to get sick.." He said softly and Rory nodded, knowing that she overstayed her encounter.

She started to walk away when Jess called after her. "Wait, Ror, I have to know, what's her last name? Gilmore, I'm assuming, or else she wouldn't be a true Gilmore girl." He chuckled, thinking of the Gilmore Way of doing things. Friday Night Dinners, Takeout and Movie Night, always snooping around when they want information about someone new in their lives.

Rory turned back and smiled. "Mariano." She said softly, then turned back around, heading towards her mom's house.


	2. Hospital Part 1

Rory walked with Valentina back to her mom's house, not that far from the town square. She contemplated telling her mom and Luke about Jess' reemergence, but she didn't know how long he was staying, or if he was staying at all, so she decided not to say anything.

Jess had been right, the air was crisp tonight and she should've brought a blanket for her daughter, and a jacket for herself. But she wouldn't let herself think that Jess was right, what does he know about being a parent, not that she knew every trick in the book either. Rory got back to the house a few minutes later and carefully took her sleeping daughter out of her stroller and took her inside to her room. Lorelei had redone Rory's room when she was away so she could fit a training bed for Valentina. Rory placed Valentina in her bed and then got ready for bed herself.

All night though, she couldn't sleep. She had just seen the man that she loved for the first time in four years. _Why is he back?_ she thought. _Where is he going next? How will I contact him?_. She didn't believe Jess, that he was just here to read. He hated this town with every inch of his being, he wouldn't have come back if he didn't have a reason.

Valentina woke up early that next morning, much to Rory's disliking. Valentina came in Rory's bed and cuddled up with her, before starting to jump on the bed. Rory sighed. The jumping on the bed was fun and cute when she had a full nights sleep, not three hours.

"Go see if Nana and Papa are up yet." Rory suggested, half awake. Lorelei and Luke insisted that Valentina call him Nana and Papa respectively, because they thought they were too young to be "Grandma and Grandpa". Valentina smiled and ran out of the room, and went upstairs to see if Lorelai and Luke were awake. She opened the door just a little, but disappointed when she heard Luke's snoring. She giggled a little though, then ran down the stairs to wake her mom up again.

As she was running down the stairs, Valentina missed a step and fell down the rest, bumping her head on the wooden railing at the bottom. That woke Rory up right away, and ran over to where she heard the noise. Valentina was standing up, so at least she didn't break her foot or any toes, but she covered her head with her arm.

"Mommy it hurts.." She pointed to her head, with tears pouring down her face.

"I know honey, come on, let's go make you feel better" In less than two minutes, Rory was changed into jeans and a sweatshirt with the blue, embroidered letters spelling out YALE on the front. She wrote her mom a note, explaining that Valentina had bumped her head and was taking her to the hospital.

As she put Valentina in her car, the panic started to set in. All of these scenarios popped up in her head, what if Valentina had a concussion, or had broken something. Rory drove fast, but not enough to get her a ticket, to the hospital. She took Valentina out of the car once they arrived, who still had tear marks down her cheeks and brought her in the emergency room. As steady as she could, she filled out forms for Valentina before she could be taken back.

Rory got to the part of the form where it asked for the paternal information. She easily filled out everything for her, but filling it out for Jess was the hard part. She didn't know anything about his medical history and she really needed it now, for the sake of her daughter, their daughter.

She took a deep breath and called the last known number of Jess's that she had in her phone. It rang for what felt like an eternity. "Hello?" a groggy voice said on the other end. She knew that normally Jess wouldn't be up for hours, as it was just 7:30.

"It's Rory.." she said softly, trying not to let him hear the panic in her voice.

"Gilmore, it's freaking 7:30 in the morning, what the hell are you doing calling me?" He sounded annoyed, but who wouldn't be annoyed if you got woken up at 7:30 by your ex-girlfriend.

"Very funny Mariano. I'm in the hospital with Valentina, she hit her head this morning as she fell down my mom's staircase."

"What happened to being perfect and never having a concussion," He remembered the conversation they had from last night. "And what do you want me to do about this, she isn't my daughter."

Rory sighed hearing those words coming out of his mouth. "I need your medical history for the pages of forms I have to fill out." Now she was getting nervous again, nervous that Jess wouldn't give her the information needed for Valentina to be admitted.

"Give me ten minutes, I'll be down there" He huffed and then hung up. Rory gave Valentina her phone to watch TV on as she waited for Jess to come. Ten minutes passed, then fifteen. Rory was worried that he wouldn't come, what if he had left town already, she thought.

Jess walked in and saw Rory finishing filling out her side of the form. She saw the little girl next to her, God she looked like a perfect blend of the both of them, having Rory's blue eyes. Jess would never admit it because he wasn't a helpless romantic, but that was his favorite thing about Rory, and now his daughter had the same beautiful eyes.

"What do I need to do so I can go back to bed?" He sat on the opposite side of Rory than Valentina was sitting on.

Rory rolled her eyes and gave him the clipboard. "The top of both of these sheets."

Valentina cuddled into Rory's arm. Her head still hurt even though the hospital gave her an ice pack and she didn't know who Jess was. Rory pulled her onto her lap and held her close. Jess looked up from writing. Rory looked up at him. "What?" she asked with a chuckle.

"You're just good with her,that's all" Jess half-smiled and went back to filling out the form. After a few minutes, he gave it in and sat awkwardly next to Rory,

"You can go home you know, we're probably going to be here all day and I'm sure you have better things to do." Rory told Jess softly and rubbed Valentina's back.

"I don't want to leave. I've felt one too many times and now that I know about her," he looked down at the little girl Rory was holding. "I don't want to leave her. I mean it this time Ror, it's different than it was four years ago. If I would've known that I did this to you, I wouldn't have left, you have to believe me. She's beautiful by the way, I know where she gets it from." Jess looked into Rory's eyes, that to him, were more blue than the ocean.

"Jess..not here, not like this.." She sighed. She had wanted this for so long and she just destroyed the chance she had.

Valentina's name got called and Rory got up with the little girl and Jess followed, leaded by a nurse that took them to a room. Valentina smiled when she saw the size of the bed. It was definitely bigger than the bed she had at Nana's house. Rory placed her down and gave Valentina her phone back. Jess stood at the foot of the bed with his hands in the back pockets of his jeans, just looking at his daughter. He was nervous for her, but didn't show it for her and Rory's sake. The doctor came in after a few minutes.

"Hello Ms. Gilmore, Mr. Mariano, I'm going to take your daughter back for some tests. If you could just wait in the waiting room that would be great." Rory looked her little girl and softly took the phone away.

"This nice man is going to take you to some special machines for a little while okay? And then Mommy will be back okay?" She said, holding back her tears, she didn't want to cry in front of Jess.

"I'm a big girl Mommy" Valentina smiled and the doctor wheeled the bed out of the room.

Rory sighed and wiped away the tear that was streaming down her face. "We should go wait in the waiting room.." She said softly to Jess.

The waiting room made Rory more nervous though, she was just pacing back and forth with Jess watching her. He was getting more nervous too watching her like this. After the twentieth pace, Jess stepped in front of her.

"Stop this Ror, come on. She will be fine. And just because I'm here doesn't mean that you can't be emotional about this. I know that you're nervous about this, I am too, but Valentina will be fine."

"You don't understand. You just met her twelve hours ago, she's no one to you. She's my daughter Jess. She may have your last name but she's my daughter."

Jess took Rory's arm and led her outside. "Don't tell me that I don't understand. I'm trying to make things right with the three of us. You're going to have to tell her eventually that I'm her father Rory." He raised her voice at her and she started to cry.

Jess sighed. "I'm sorry Ror, I didn't mean," Rory hugged him, she needed to. "No I'm sorry." she said and let go.

"We should get inside.." he said, almost at a whisper. Rory nodded in agreement and started to walk inside, but not before Jess put his arm around her waist, in a way that felt like he never left.


	3. Hospital Part 2

**AN: Hi everyone :) I'm so happy that you're enjoying this fanfic, I've had this idea in mind for a while and was never able to put my thoughts down. Please review to let me know that you like the story (or don't like it), it would be much appreciated :)**

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"Must have coffee" Rory said as the hospital cafeteria came in sight.

"You still haven't given that bad habit up?" Jess chuckled as they walked to the cafeteria.

"Oh shush, you're starting to sound like Luke. As speaking of which, he's dating my mom. A little weird if you ask me, but they're happy and that's all that matters right," Rory got a cup and poured coffee in it, black, just the way she liked it. "Do you want anything?" She said as she grabbed a danish and her coffee to go and pay.

Jess just shook his head. "I'm going to find us a table" He said, as Rory paid for her breakfast. She came and sat down across from him in the booth as she drank her coffee.

"I think the first thing we should do is talk about what we're going to say to Valentina. Are we going to say that you're her dad?" Rory asked softly.

"Well we wouldn't be lying if we told her I'm her dad. We should tell her, when we can see her. I told you I want to be apart of this life you created for her." Rory nodded.

"I think she'll be excited. She always asks about her daddy. I tell her he's traveling around the world." Rory giggled.

"So you haven't told me much about Valentina, and I think that I deserve to know., especially now that we're going to tell her who I am." Jess said, with a little attitude in his voice.

Rory nodded and put the coffee cup down on the table. "Well, she's almost four. I can't believe it honestly. She was born in this hospital, a little earlier than my due date, so she was smaller than most babies when she was born. But Jess, she's perfect. I make her listen to the music we listen to, well now she listens on her own and she dances around our living room. She went to preschool this year, she was so eager to learn it was amazing," Rory took another sip of coffee. "Really I-We got so lucky with her. I would like to have you in her life, if that's what you want." Rory looked straight into Jess' big brown eyes.

"You know I want that Ror, more than anything. I want to make up for everything I wasn't here for. My parents were shit and I don't want to be like that with Valentina. It's a beautiful name by the way."

She nodded. "Valentina Mariano. I don't know how much more Italian you could get with that name. I thought you would like it. Also, I got a little inspired from the name Valentine.."

"..from Romeo and Juliet" Jess finished and Rory smiled and looked down, eating a piece of her danish.

"What have you been up to? I don't see you for four years and you suddenly come back?" Rory asked.

"Well right now my publishing company is stationed in New Haven, in a few months it will be New York. I have a book in the process of being edited for the millionth time so hopefully it will be soon." Jess smiled, trying not to get cocky.

"That's great" Rory smiled. "I knew you were going to write someday."

He gave a little smirk. "Don't get all cute on me Gilmore, I have a reputation to uphold." Just then the doctor interrupted them. Rory threw away the rest of the danish and followed the doctor and Jess to Valentina's room.

"Good news is that she doesn't have a concussion, she just bruised herself. Definitely not the worst thing in the world." Doctor Banks explained to them. Rory was practically taking notes on everything the doctor said on her phone, while Jess was zoning out. He just wanted to see Valentina and make sure for himself that she was okay.

They got to the room and the doctor let them be alone. "Hey baby" Rory said softly as she saw her daughter, sucking on a lollipop.

"Mommy! The nice man gave me a lolli for being such a good girl!" Valentina's blue eyes lit up as she told her mom about the lollipop.

"That's great" Rory sat in the chair next to her bed.

"Honey, remember when I told you that you have a daddy? And that he loves you very much and he was traveling around the whole wide world," Valentina licked her lollipop and nodded her mom as she spoke. "well this is your daddy" She carefully took Jess's hand from behind her.

Valentina didn't really understand the situation completely, but she understood enough to know that Jess was the man she always asked about.

"You've been all over the world!" Valentina giggled. "Have you been to Paris? Mommy says it's pretty there."

"No, I'm sorry I've never been there. I've been to California though." Jess says as Valentina finishes her lollipop.

"Are you gonna stay daddy?" Valentina asked. Jess looked at her for a minute before answering. The reality was yes, he is someones daddy, and he wanted to make things right.

Rory saw him, staying in space so she answered for him. "Daddy lives in New Haven. But he's going to come and visit. Right Jess?" She looked at him, hoping that he'll say that he will come and visit.

"Of course. Mommy tells me that you like reading. What's your favorite book?" he said, sitting in the chair next to Rory.

"My favorite book to read is The Cat in the Hat. But I like when mommy reads me To Kill a Mockingbird." His daughter said.

"Starting her on the classics early I see, Ror." Jess looked over at Rory.

"Oh yes, because The Cat in the Hat is such a classic" she joked, as Valentina closed her eyes to take a nap.

A few minutes later, Lorelai and Luke came in. "What happe-" Lorelai couldn't finish, the sight of Jess there surprised her too much.

"Hi Jess," she said hesitantly. "Rory can I talk to you in the hall for a second?"

Rory sighed and got up, following her mother into the long hospital hallway.

"First of all, what the hell? Second of all, what the hell?" Lorelai said, drinking her second cup of coffee of the morning.

"Valentina got hurt this morning, so I took her here. I needed Jess' health information or else they wouldn't get Valentina a room. So I called him and ta-da he's here. I saw him last night, when I took Valentina for a walk. He knows about his daughter and she knows about him too. We're going to try and make things work, he's changed mom." Rory explained.

"I just don't you to get hurt." Her mom said.

"I won't. And Luke will kill Jess if he even thinks about doing anything bad. I can handle this mom. Wouldn't it be nice for me to have a complete family?

"Yes it would." Lorelai smiled and walked with Rory back into her granddaughter's room.

"I can't believe you're saying the Dodgers are better than the Yankees" Luke said, starting to get angry at Jess.

"Are we interrupting something here?" Lorelai asked and laughed.

"Well I'm in here,giving Jess the 'if you even think about hurting Rory or Valentina I'll kill you speech and he turns on the Dodgers game. And then he has the nerve to tell me that they're better than the Yankees."

"Because for the fifth time, they are better." Jess says, making the feeling of anger mutual between him and Luke.

"I told you so" Rory smiled at Lorelai over the comment Luke made about hurting Jess.

"If you don't mind guys, my daughter is trying to sleep and all you guys are doing is auguring about baseball." Rory looks at Luke and Jess, who was looking up the Dodgers' stats on his phone.

Jess looked up from his phone and looked at Luke, "Come on Luke, my daughter is trying to sleep here" He said, looking over at Rory when he was done scolding his uncle.


	4. Those 3 Little Words

**AN: Thank you so much to the people who reviewed. It means a lot to hear some feedback! I will always try the best that I can to get new chapters posted everyday. Also, if you could review and tell me if you want to see a chapter dedicated to Valentina's birthday that would be great! Thank you for continuing reading :)**

About a week had passed since Valentina had her accident. She was out of the hospital the same day and was doing great now. Over this past week, Rory had taken Valentina to New Haven to see Jess, in an attempt to get them to bond. A few days it worked, a few days it hadn't. Today, was one of those days that it didn't work.

"Did I do something wrong?" Jess said, as he ran his hands through his black, wavy hair. He only did that when he was nervous. They were sitting on Jess' black leather couch in his little one-bedroom apartment in New Haven, trying to get Valentina to calm down.

"No, you were great. You are great. It just takes Valentina a little while to warm up to people. It took her almost nine months before she wanted to meet me." Rory said with a smile, as she held Valentina on her hip.

"Oh, you're hilarious" Jess said, with a sarcastic tone.

"Come on, why don't you hold her? She's your daughter too, and you guys should have a bond," Rory said as she gave Valentina over to a nervous Jess for the first time. Jess was always scared he was going to do something wrong to her, that it was in his genes that he would mess up being a father, like his father was to him, but of course it wasn't. "See it's not so bad." Valentina rested her head on Jess' shoulder and sucked her thumb.

Before he met Rory, Jess never thought he would be the settle-down type. But he knew that the relationship between Rory and her dad and himself and Jimmy, and he didn't want to be like that to his daughter. Four years ago, he got scared of the idea of settling down and that's why he left Rory.

Valentina slowly closed her eyes on Jess, falling asleep on his new AC\DC shirt. "You might want to lay her down somewhere. She's a droller." Rory said.

Jess got up, carrying Valentina into his bedroom to lay her on his bed. "Thanks for the fair warning." He pointed to a droll stain on his shoulder.

"It's not my fault." She was trying her hardest not to laugh.

He sat back on the broken-leather couch and pulled Rory so she was leaning his his chest.

"I really missed you…" He said with a quiet tone in his voice, playing with Rory's short brown hair.

She smiled softly, letting the scent of his cologne linger onto her. "I really missed you too. I read some really good books when you-" She leaned down to her bag, to pull out a book she wanted to show to Jess, when he interrupted her.

"Do you want to go out tonight, just the two of us?" He asked, rather quickly, as if he was nervous to ask it.

"Um, yes, that would be great actually. I barely get out anymore. I can get Luke and my mom to babysit Valentina for us." She looked at Jess and smiled.

"Do you want to drive back here? I can make dinner for us, but only if you're up to driving here again. If not, we can do something else."

"No I can definitely drive back here, around 8:30 good?" She asked, as Valentina started to cry again.

"Yeah that sounds good." He said, as Rory got up to get Valentina.

"Hi Mommy!" Valentina smiled.

"Hi babes" As Rory bent down to help Valentina down, she noticed a piece of paper on Jess' night table. _Jess, I just read the most amazing book. Thought you would like it. I left it with Luke ~ Ror._ She had written the short letter to Jess a few weeks before he left. She had just finished The Bell Jar, and had wanted him to read it.

Valentina ran back into Jess' living room and sat next to him, watching him read.

"Tina, we're going to go okay? Say goodbye to your daddy."

Valentina nodded and kissed Jess' cheek and she got Rory's bag for her.

"Bye Valentina, I'll see you soon, okay?" Jess kissed her cheek back. Valentina nodded and ran over to hold Rory's hand.

"I'll see you tonight Jess." Rory said as she walked out the door. Once she got outside the apartment, she couldn't stop smiling.

* * *

"You're going to Jess' looking like that?" Lorelai asked as Rory put on her black, high-heeled sandals.

"What's so bad about my outfit?" Rory asked. She was wearing black jeans with a black tank top and a white jacket over it.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that Jess is taking you out tonight."

After a long pause, Rory finally spoke. "We're not going out, we're just having dinner at his place. Technically, that's not going out. We also have to talk about this co-parenting thing. Think of it as a business meeting and Valentina is the thing I'm trying to sell to him." She said, smiling.

She grabbed a pop-tart that had been sticking out of the toaster for hours now.

"I should probably go. The traffic to New Haven is crazy at this time of the night." Rory said, as she finished her pop-tart.

Lorelai nodded and smiled "I want to know every detail when you get home."

"Of course. If Valentina wakes up, kiss her Goodnight again for me." Valentina had just went to sleep about fifteen minutes ago, right after Lorelai took her to Luke's for dinner. Rory grabbed her keys, said goodbye to Lorelai and then drove to Jess'.

* * *

"Someone cleaned up nice" Jess joked as he opened the door for Rory. Earlier that day, she wore a pair of jeans she's had since she was fifteen and a Pippy Longstocking shirt.

"I would be lying if I didn't say the same for you, Mariano." Now he wore a nice black shirt and jeans.

Jess let her in and led her over to his kitchen table, which earlier, had magazines and books on it. Now it was covered with a white tablecloth, with a candle in the middle and two plates in front of the two chairs.

"Since when have you owned a tablecloth?" Rory half-smirked at him.

"About three hours ago." He said with pride.

"Just as I suspected" She smiled and sat down in one of the chairs. "So I really want to talk about Valentina. You made it a point that you want to be in her life, and I want you in her life. I was thinking that for a new more weeks, I can bring her here like I've been doing, maybe even sleep over, once she's comfortable too. And then comes the hard part. I've been offered a job in New York as a Times writer, or a job in Washington, D.C. to follow around and do press for a presidential candidate. I'm actually leaning towards going to New York." She took a bite of her chicken pot pie that Jess had made.

"I'm leaving for New York in about a week, for work. I have to go to their new office and make sure my office is settled and the way that I want it. I also have to go to a party for the release and press of my book. Maybe you and Valentina can come. Then, if you still want to work at the Times, You, Valentina and I can get an apartment there, like a real family." He suggested.

"I think that would be fun, going to New York with you." She smiled.

"Good, I hope it will be. And Valentina's birthday, are you doing anything special?" He asks, starting to eat.

"No, we don't usually do anything out of the ordinary. We eat pop-tarts for breakfast, and then we have a movie marathon, then we go to Luke's for dinner. You're welcome to join us this year if you want. It's really a lot of fun. I also read to her, usually it is something that I'm reading so she doesn't understand any of it, but somehow she does get it."

The two talked all through dinner and barely ate anything, even Rory who typically could have devoured three of those pot pies.

After about three hours of catching up and barely eating, Rory got up and Jess stood up next to her. "I really should be going. I hate that my mom has to watch Valentina, I feel it's burden and-" Jess cupped her face in his hands and kissed her lips for the first time since they made love the night when Valentina was conceived.

"Don't go. Stay for just a few minutes. I'm sure Lorelai would not mind at all." He whispered as he held Rory's hand and led her to the couch and laid down, then pulled her on top of him, kissing her so passionately that it felt like the first time. He pulled her jacket off and rubbed her arm, he missed how delicate she was. It was Rory this whole time that kept him going, encouraging himself to start writing, and now getting a published book.

After an hour, they were tangled together on the black, leather couch that now had more wrinkles in it than it did this morning. They just laid there, having skin to skin contact. Their clothes were scattered around the small living room, and now they just had a blanket around the both of them to protect them from the chill of the air conditioner.

"I love you, Rory Gilmore." Jess said softly into her ear.

Rory smiled, and might've turned a shade of pink.

"I love you too, Jess Mariano."


	5. Happy Birthday

"Will you hurry up?" Rory asked Jess, who was taking his sweet time getting the pop-tarts and coffee.

"Daddy, Pippy is starting!" Valentina ran into the kitchen of her grandmother's home. Lorelai had an early morning emergency at the inn, so she couldn't be here to watch the movie marathon. Jess accepted the invitation of celebrating Valentina's birthday with her and Rory, and Valentina loved the idea as she was really starting to get close to Jess.

As Valentina walked into the kitchen, she gasped. The whole kitchen was filled with pink and purple balloons and presents covering the kitchen table.

"Daddy! The birthday fairy came!" She jumped up and down, and hugged Jess' leg.

"Mommy come here!" Rory paused the movie and ran over to the kitchen, thinking that something was wrong. She had the same expression on her face that her daughter did when she walked in. Valentina was already sitting at the table, tearing open the wrapped presents.

"What did you do?" Rory half whispered to Jess as she kicked a balloon away so she could stand correctly.

"What? I couldn't spoil my daughter on her birthday? And do not worry, a lot of them are books. Good books. Books that she will understand." He smiled at Rory.

Valentina proudly held up her own black leather jacket, to match her daddy's. Jess laughed. "I never said that all of them are books. Plus, come on, our kid needs their own leather jacket." Valentina kissed Jess' cheek and then went back to ripping open presents. Most of the presents were books. A lot of and Disney Princess stories, but still books. Jess had also put out the gifts that Rory had gotten her, so it didn't seem like he was the better parent.

"You're impossible, Mariano, you know that." Rory shook her head.

Before Jess could make a snarky comment back, Valentina opened her last present.

"This. Is. Amazing!" Valentina smiled, holding up the complete Curious George set.

"I think the birthday fairy knew exactly what you wanted this year." Rory smirked at Jess.

He winked. "Come on princess, let's go watch Pippy." He said, placing a princess crown that Rory had gotten her on her head and leading her inside, into the living room.

Valentina sat on the couch, in the middle of both of her parents. The movie started, and Rory and Valentina start half-screaming, half-singing the words to the song that was playing.

"So I'm guessing you watch this movie-" Before Jess could finish his sentence. Valentina put her finger over her mouth and shh'ed him. "There's no talking during Pippy, Daddy." she said, with a serious tone of voice. She could be a very serious girl when she needed to be, but knew when to let her guard down, just like her mom.

The next two hours and forty minutes were dreadful for Jess. The only thing that was keeping him from falling asleep was when either Rory, or Valentina, or sometimes both, would scream out quotes that they knew from the movie as the actor or actress was saying them.

As the DVD ended, Valentina ran inside to grab her Curious George collection. "I wanna read now mommy." She sat back down her in her spot, between Rory and Jess and pulled out the first book. For the next hour, it was all about Curious George. All of the collection was read, Valentina was a fast reader, just like Jess.

"Mommy, I'm hungry." Valentina said as she closed her last book.

"Okay, do you want your leftover Chinese food or do you want to go see Papa?"

"I wanna go to Papa's!" She smiled and ran to get her sandals on.

Jess gave Rory the 'I don't want to see my Uncle Luke' face. "Come on Ror, why can't we stay here? I'll let you sing all the Pippy you want." Jess pleaded.

"Jess, she wants to go to Luke's. If you really do not want to go, then stay here or leave. Besides, it's tradition." She sighed as she went to grab her pocketbook from the kitchen.

"Daddy, are you ready?" Valentina smiled as she went over to hold Jess' hand.

"Yes. I'm ready." He sighed as he looked at Rory, as if she say, 'You owe me one'.

They walked down the street and around the corner to Luke's, as Valentina pointed everything along the way out for Jess, as if anything had changed since he was last there. Everyone on the street wished Valentina, she had definitely taken over her mom's job as town princess when she was born. Together the three of them walked into Luke's, where a table was set up with balloons, like Luke did for Rory on her birthday.

"Oh honey look, go say thank you to Papa." Rory smiled as Valentina ran over to Luke and hugged him, even though he was in the middle of serving a table.

Rory and Jess sat down at the table, waiting for Valentina. Jess picked up a menu, as if he didn't already know what his uncle served. Valentina came back and sat in between the two.

"Mommy, I ordered your coffee, and pancakes for me." Rory smiled and nodded, proud of how outspoken her daughter was.

"What looks good Jess?" Rory said, after a few minutes of Jess scanning the menu.

"You." he said simply. "Even though I think a burger might look a little better." He smirked and yelled across the diner to let Luke know that he wanted a burger.

"Daddy. You just don't yell like that." Valentina sighed, a little disappointed.

"Sorry princess." He said as Luke came over with the pancakes and coffee and the burger.

"I'm sorry Papa. I told Daddy not to yell." Valentina looked up at Luke.

"It's okay. But thank you, I'm glad someone is finally putting him in his place." Luke filled Rory's coffee and then left.

"Is there anything left to do today?" Jess asked, before he took a huge bite of his burger.

"We have birthday cake later, on the bridge by the lake and watch the sunset. We celebrated with my mom and Luke last night. We always celebrate with them the night before, so for her actual birthday, it would just be me and her, and for this year, you." She said. "You can leave if you need to though. I don't think she would mind if you gave her a good reason." Now, Valentina was sitting on the counter, wanting a danish because Rory told her that it was danish day when it wasn't, just to bug Luke.

"Come on Papa! I wanna a danish!" Valentina said loudly, but not loud enough to break her own rule of no yelling in the diner.

"I don't have any. Tell your mom to stop playing this little game of hers." Rory chuckled.

"Are you ready to go have some cake?" Rory came up to the counter, to prevent her from bothering Luke anymore.

Valentina jumped down and ran over to Jess, who was done with his burger and fries.

"Let's go daddy!" She nearly pulled her parents out of the diner because she was so excited to have her cake. Sookie made a special cake for Valentina, with all of her favorite characters from books that she loved.

They quickly stopped back at home to get the cake and forks to eat the cake with, then walked over to the lake.

"Daddy, look, it's a swan!" Valentina shrieked and waved at the swan.

"I hate swans." Jess said, with a hint of anger in his voice.

Jess followed Rory and Valentina onto the bridge and sat down. Rory lit the number 4 candle that was on the cake already and her and Jess sang happy birthday to their daughter.

"Now, you just take a fork and break into the cake. There's no time for cutting, and I hate working for my food. It's just a waste of time." Rory gave Jess a fork. Valentina's mouth was already covered in pink icing and little cake particles.

The sun was already setting and there was a soft summer breeze in the air. After devouring as much cake as she could handle, Valentina fell asleep on Rory's lap.

"Ror?" Jess asked, after he put his arm around her.

"What's up?" she said, with a quiet tone of voice so she wouldn't wake Valentina.

"Are we a thing? You and me? Would you say that we are a family now?" He asked. He so badly wanted to be with Rory and Valentina forever, as cliche as it sounded.

"I think so. There's still a lot more to be done, but I think that we're doing this parenting thing great. Valentina loves you, a lot. She normally doesn't warm up to people as fast as she did to you."

Jess smiled and pecked Rory's lips. "This was an amazing day, as stupid as Pippy Longstocing was."

Rory shook her head. "That's a classic you're talking about like that, but I think it was a great day as well." She smiled and kissed him once more.

The new small family sat there until it got pitch-back out, the way that it was always meant to be.

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 **I know, I know. This chapter wasn't the greatest. I couldn't think of much to write about for her birthday. I promise you though that the next few chapters will be better. Keep reviewing and following, it means a lot :)**


	6. New York Part 1

**AN: Hi everyone! I hope you are all enjoying this fix! I do already have several chapters planned out, but if you want to see anything happen in the story, either review or PM me. Thanks for all of your feedback already, it makes me love to continue to write :)**

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"Oh, I'm so excited!" Rory smiled as she got in the car herself, after strapping in Valentina's booster seat in one of the back seat. Jess was taking Rory and Valentina to New York for the weekend, part business and part pleasure. He had gotten them the best suite in his favorite hotel. Well, his publishing company got him the room and he had no problem saying no.

"It's just New York Ror, there's nothing that exciting about it." Jess chuckled as he backed out of the Gilmore driveway, and quickly on I-95.

"So tonight I have a business meeting with Chris and Matt and tomorrow is the release party of the book. I would really love it if you and Valentina came. It would be a nice chance to show off my hot girlfriend." Jess said, smirking as Rory hit him playfully.

Valentina was fast asleep in the back seat, a book lying across her chest.

"Why is Valentina wearing her leather jacket? It's nearly ninety degrees out. She must be dying." Jess asked.

"She calls it her daddy jacket. She insists on wearing it everywhere." Rory smiled.

After almost three hours of listening to everything from Metallica to David Bowie, the small family was finally in New York City. Jess parked in front of the building and concierge came out to get their bags. Rory got Valentina out from the back seat, who was now awake and looking around everywhere.

"Look Mommy! It's the Empire State Building!" Valentina smiled proudly. She could easily point out memorable buildings, such as that one.

"Good girl. Come on, let's follow daddy." Rory held her hand and guided her inside. The lobby alone was the most beautiful room that Rory had seen in her life. Three huge chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The chairs in the lobby were black leather that reclined and the counters and tables were granite. Since she was used to wooden staircases back at her mom's inn, this was a whole new universe for her. On their way to the elevator, they passed a two way grand staircase, that also had a chandelier hanging in the middle of it.

"Jess, this place is amazing." She smiled, as they got into the elevator. Valentina pressed the 21 button, since they were staying on the twenty-first floor.

"Only the best for you Gilmore. And you too, mini Mariano." He ruffled Valentina's wavy black hair. The elevator opened directly into their room. Valentina ran into the living room and plumped down on the couch. Again, it was leather, with black and white checked pillows on both sides, the same pattern as the carpet.

"Valentina, come see your room!" Rory took Valentina and skipped into her room. It had a queen size bed and three bookcases, filled with all types of books.

"I love it here!" The little girl beamed.

"Good. You stay here and read okay? Daddy and I have to unpack." She kissed the top of her head and then went into the master bedroom. Jess was already throwing his things in one of the drawers underneath the TV set.

"Jess, this place, it's beyond words. And you know I'm not one to be without words." She smiled and laid on the bed, taking a new book out of her backpack.

"Well, I'm glad you like it. This place is for rent and I was thinking of buying it, if we move here together. I got a pretty nice deposit on the book deal and I want this place to be just ours. What do you think?" He asked, as he climbed into the bed next to her.

"I think that sounds like an amazing idea." Rory smiled and kissed him.

"I love you, Jess."

"I love you too Ror. If I didn't, do you think I would get us this place?" He smirked.

"Why can't you say I love you without a snarky ass comment?" Rory said, of course joking. She loved his snarky comments.

"I should be getting ready now. I have to meet Chris and Matt in an hour for that meeting." He said, changing the subject and getting out of bed.

"Come on, we just got here. We didn't get to look over the room service menu or look at the book shelf." Rory pointed the book shelf that went from floor to ceiling.

Jess chuckled as he took his semi-wrinkled clothes out of the drawer to change into before his meeting. "How about you read over the menu and report back to me tonight when I get back. I really have to get going." He quickly kissed her and went in the bathroom to change,

He came out looking a lot more professional than he did when he wore his ripped jeans and New Romantics t-shirt.

"Okay, now I really have to go. Kiss Valentina goodnight for me tonight, I probably won't be home before she falls asleep." Jess said and kissed Rory one more time, and then went in Valentina's room to kiss her goodbye, but she was too preoccupied with reading a book that she found on one of the bookshelves in her room. Rory knew that he had left from the sound of the ding of the elevator.

That night, Rory and Valentina ordered food from the downstairs restaurant. Everything was included in their stay, so they ordered most everything, and anything that was left over, Jess could have when he got home. They watched a movie, then Rory put Valentina to bed after reading her the first three chapters of _To Kill a Mockingbird._

It was nearly midnight when Rory finally fell asleep. Jess wasn't back from his meeting yet, something that he should've been back from hours ago. Rory had called him twice and texted him to make sure he was okay, but got no response. She finally let the anxiety get the best of her and she fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, she heard voices in the living room of the apartment. _3:27_ the clock next to her read. Tiredly, she put on her slippers and walked out to find a very drunken Jess on the couch and an almost sober Chris and Matt next to him, trying to get him to stay still on the couch.

"Rory.." Matt said as he saw her come into the room.

"R-Rory's prrreettttyyy" Jess slurred to himself. His eyes were all red and bloodshot and his cheeks were bright pink in color from the alcohol.

"We didn't mean for this to happen. We went out after the meeting and Jess just ordered one drink after another. We tried to stop him, but he was not being stopped." Chris tried to explain.

Rory sighed, she thought that this Jess was long gone.

"I think it would be best if you two left. I can figure this out." She combed her hair back with her fingers. The two friends left without any hesitation and Rory helped Jess into their bedroom. Within seconds of being in bed, he fell asleep. Rory took her pillow and an extra blanket found in the closet and went to go sleep on the couch, she couldn't stand to sleep next to him tonight.


End file.
